MAY 25 • 2023 | 15
what the Jewish world had to
offer, and I just had no idea,
”
Lader said.
Even with that, Lader said
she was still on the science track
through college, majoring in
pre-med at the University of
Maryland. But she also started
taking Jewish studies as part of
her college curriculum. She said
she had all of her “real classes”
in science, but all her electives
were in Jewish studies.
At this time, a congregation
nearby had an opening for a
youth director and she applied.
“I really connected with
working with Jewish teens and
between my Jewish studies
classes, those were the parts
I was really looking forward
to in my life,
” she said. “Some
brilliant adviser said to me, you
don’t have to do that [stick with
science]. You can do something
you enjoy, and that was a really
big deal.
“That’s when I wanted to
become a rabbi,
” she added.
“
And the thing I love about both
science and the rabbinate is that
I get to walk through the world
with a sense of awe … it’s the
best decision I ever made.
”
RABBI ARIANNA GORDON
You could say Rabbi Gordon’s
path to the rabbinate officially
started earlier in life.
“I had the best time at my bat
mitzvah. I had a younger cousin
who kept asking if I was nervous
on the day of, and I would tell
him how much fun I was hav-
ing,
” Gordon said. “That was the
first time it occurred to me that
this could be interesting.
”
Gordon said she began to
talk about being a rabbi at
13. Over the next decade, she
learned more about what that
could mean. She chose Brandeis
University for its Judaic studies
and taught religious school
throughout college as well.
One summer during college,
she purposely worked a separate
nine-to-five job, just to make
sure she had chosen the right
path as a teenager and it was
clear. She applied to rabbinical
school.
Gordon focused on education
in her rabbinate, and she joined
Temple Israel in 2011 as the
temple’s director of education.
ROLE MODELS FOR
THE COMMUNITY
All four of Temple Israel’s
female rabbis have become
role models in the community
in several facets of Jewish life.
They have also become role
models for young women and
girls who would like to follow
them on a similar path.
“It’s funny. I never consid-
ered the fact that I hadn’t met
a female rabbi when I decided
I want to be a rabbi,” Kaluzny
said. “I’m all for anyway I can
help girls not think twice about
it. I never thought about break-
ing a glass ceiling or even con-
tinuing breaking a glass ceiling,
I just want it to be another one
of the choices that girls have
because they should always
have those choices.”
Hornsten added, “How mag-
nificent is it that you have all
these female rabbi role models?
I had to seek them out when
I was thinking of going to
rabbinical school, which I did.
And these young girls don’t
have to do that, they see us.
“There was one little girl
who used to dress up and play
‘Rabbi Marla.’ I thought it was
so sweet and a sea change from
prior generations. Our young
girls don’t even give it a second
thought whether they can be
rabbis … I was raised that I
could be anything I wanted, but
I didn’t have those role models
and they have them in the four
of us and see how people with
different skills can be rabbis.”
Temple Israel’s celebration of its female
rabbis takes place 5:45-9 p.m. Friday,
May 26. Register at www.temple-israel.
org/event/holysparks.
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24725 West 12 Mile – Ste. 110
Southfield, MI 48034
1-248-945-1111
24725 West 12 Mile – Ste. 110
Southfield, MI 48034
1-248-945-1111
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Southfield, MI 48034
1-248-945-1111
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